


Remember

by exhibits_no_restraint



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, I almost want to do a reading of this but idk where I'd post it, Spoilers for Balance, death discussion too, my take on what happens to the birds when they die in sc, tw for existential stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 12:05:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19376362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exhibits_no_restraint/pseuds/exhibits_no_restraint
Summary: Some things are best left forgotten.





	Remember

Taako doesn't like going to The Other Side. He just doesn't. Kravitz doesn't find this odd, it was a little spooky before he got used to it, after all. It's been so long that he's used to it, of course, but he can see how it might be a little unsettling.  
But then a year passes, and then two, and every single time Taako hesitates as much or more than the last.  
Taako feels ridiculous of course. He's safe in the Astral Plane with Kravitz. He should be used to it by now. But there's something deep within him, in his being that feels...off whenever he's there.  
One day he asked Lup about it. "Yeah it is pretty scary," she confirmed. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but I feel you."  
Barry confirmed the same.  
Eventually, Taako asked the only other person who had been over there: Angus.  
"I mean it was a little spooky the first time, but now I just think all of the lights in the lake are really beautiful."

Lucas was working on some new technology. He had been inspired by the voidfish's powers and made a kind of...anti-voidfish. Instead of making everyone forget something, his device would make someone remember everything. He approached Taako about it because he had some questions about some things he learned in the Story, and Taako had said he couldn't remember.  
"Yeah hook me up Nerdlord."  
Lucas put the helmet on Taako's head. "I really wish you'd stop calling me that."  
It was the last thing Taako heard before his vision went white.

* * *

They learned a lot about The Hunger. They learned about John, and his life, and the bonds he had swallowed to make himself into the form they had evaded for so long. They learned about the planes and the people and things that inhabited them. They learned about The Light of Creation, and the makeup of the Universe, and even a little about Jeffandrew.

But there was one thing they never learned.  
They never learned what it was that made John become The Hunger in the first place.  
The closest they ever got was John telling Merle that, "Existence...is _horrible_." But that wasn't it. Not quite.

You see, everything that _is_ , was _made_. And that means that everything that _is_ was once, well, _not-made_. And it is not this existence or not-existence that is horrible, as John asserted.  
No, the horrible part is _being made_.  
And that terror, that horror, reverberates through everyone's life.  
The good news is for you is that you will die, and you will be un-made, and then you will receive your rest in that sea of lights over which Magnus's house looks. And you will remember being made and the horror that it entailed, but you will rest easy, knowing you will never have to endure that again.  
But you are not Taako.

If a soul is leaves the Astral Plane, as a sort of last-ditch failsafe, they lose all memory of their time there. And with it, they lose of memories of the horrifying ordeal of being made.  
Unless, of course, they hook themself up to a magical device that makes them remember everything.  
And Taako does remember everything. He remembers sinking into the comfortable sea of souls ever time he died. He remembers floating lazily, the cares of his life softening with time. And most of all, he remembers being wretched from the Astral Plane, and being re-made, and being placed back into his body on the Starblaster.  
You see, most folks only get made once. They're made, and they live, and they die, and then they remember. But Taako is not most folks. He only died seven times during the Stolen Century, but that's seven times more than nearly anyone else who has ever existed. And he remembered not in the quiet waters in the sea of souls, but in a lab hovering over the Stillwater sea.

* * *

When he awoke, covered in sweat, his hands bearing the mark of his nails, he sat, up deadly silent.

"Oh my God Taako are you-"  
Taako held up a hand so authoritative that it instantly silenced the frantic scientist.  
He pulled out a Stone of Farspeech and dialed Angus. "Hello, Sir," said the voice on the other end, deepened with age, but still full of respect.  
"Angus, you got your lawyer's certification last year, right?" His voice is deadly calm, and it sends a chill down Angus's back.  
"Yes sir." He answered quietly. "What can I do to help?" Anything that has Taako sounding like this must be serious.  
"You're going to help me sue Jeffandrew."

**Author's Note:**

> What do y'all think? I don't really have anything else planned for this but of there's enough want for it I could probably come up with something.  
> As always, feedback is appreciated.


End file.
